Columbus announced its next phase of the Zone-In code overhaul Thursday, with the goal of spurring residential, commercial and industrial development on about 40% of properties in the city.
Mayor Andrew Ginther made the announcement alongside other city officials at the Little Grand Market food hall in the Grandview Crossings area of the city. Ginther said developments like that which include housing, business campuses and mixed-use amenities like the food hall are what a new code could spur.
"It's really held us back having this antiquated zoning code," Ginther said. "And so this is the next step in the process because the first step really only covered... about 4% of the parcels in the city. So this next step will have a greater impact."
The first phase covered more than 13,000 parcels along major transportation corridors, which the city hopes can create more than 80,000 new housing units. The second phase will focus on 66,519 parcels.
A map of the second zoning update shows Columbus is now focusing on commercial and industrial areas of the city.
This new update will not only update the zoning code, but also the city's land use policies city wide.
Ginther said those who are unfamiliar should think of zoning as the legal framework that tells the city what can be built and where. Land use policy is what Ginther describes as the compass that guides those decisions rooted in the community's market conditions, infrastructure capacity and long-term goals for growth.
Ginther said more housing is a goal with this second phase, but so are new business centers, hospitals, office parks and warehouses that this update could promote. He said developing such sites would be easier compared to the Grandview Crossing development on what he says was once an unregulated industrial dump is an example of what could be built.
"Today, these 55 acres are transforming into a modern mixed-use development, reflecting the kind of vibrant, walkable environments that strengthen quality of life and economic opportunity for our residents," Ginther said. "Yet projects like this are difficult under Columbus' current zoning code, which often requires multiple variances before projects can receive the approval they need to even get off the ground."
Getting this code update finalized will require months of litigation and public input through Columbus City Council.
Columbus City Councilmember Rob Dorans, the council's president pro tem, said the city council will likely see a resolution outlining their goals for this next phase at Monday's meeting. The legislation required to push through the update will take longer, requiring public input and meetings to hear and address concerns from residents.
Dorans said he hopes this second phase of the zoning code can help the city more quickly address blight from places like the Eastland Mall, which is in the process of being demolished to make way for a mixed-use development.
Dorans also said Zone In, which the city approved the first phase of a year ago, needs time to come to fruition. He said some housing projects have already come online or are being built to add more housing.
"Folks that are looking for a quick fix on housing, if you've got one, I'd love to hear it," Dorans said. "But that's really not something that's really on the table. So I think when we talk about really changing the regulation, land use plans, that's something that's measured in years and decades and not in weeks or months."
Dorans pointed to development near Ohio State University which could produce new housing for college students up to 10 stories.
"Now having a zoning code that allows that housing to be built in proximity to campus rather than taking years and years and years to bring it online is exactly the kind of results that we were hoping for in that first phase of Zone In," Dorans said.
Dorans said the city has also seen more modest housing projects of four to six units that he said otherwise would have been stuck in bureaucratic red tape for over a year be brought online in other parts of the city.
Dorans and Ginther said the remaining 50% of the city's parcels, which are mainly in the neighborhoods of Columbus, will be addressed in the third and final phase of Zone-In. This will be a much taller task for the city as residents in traditionally single-family neighborhoods face the prospect of infill development and diverse housing closer to home.
"Anytime you have that level of impact deep into neighborhoods, you need time," Ginther said.
Ginther said he wouldn't expect anywhere near the 80,000+ units estimated to come online in the first phase to occur with the final phase.
